1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a networked computerized parking system of networked computerized parking meters, said networked computerized parking system using a motion detector to determine start and completion of parking of a vehicle in its vicinity, thus refunding any remaining parking fee from a parking charge card to the parking charge card upon request for refund or upon removal of the vehicle. A method for operating said networked computerized parking system is also presented in this invention.
2. General Background and Description of Prior Art
Any discussion of an improved parking meter and parking system revolves around several major issues. Relatively older parking meters are limited to acceptance of coins and tokens for operation. Thus, a user of a parking space who does not have a correct total amount of changes and tokens will have to choose between getting a ticket and losing the difference between the total amount of the changes and of the tokens and the required amount of money. Also, coins and tokens sometimes get stuck in parking meters, thus, preventing the parking meter from functioning properly. In addition, a supervisor of the parking meter has to regularly empty parking meters and collect and count numerous coins and tokens leading to accounting mistakes. Parking meters are sometimes damaged in attempts to steal coins or in attempt to obtain free parking time from the parking meter. Bernier, U.S. Pat. No. 5,065,156, presents a computer-controlled coin parking meter for managing use of a parking lot of up to about ten parking spaces. Another more recent choice is using cards for computerized parking meters which operate without coins and to estimate a certain value to be deducted from a card in order to compensate for the amount of time that the user will be using said parking space. An example is indicated in U.S. Pat. No. 4,861,971, wherein Chan presents a parking meter capable of being operated in commercial parking facilities without monetary coins using a card. In both cases, the user is unable to predict the exact amount of time that his vehicle will remain at the parking space. There is always a possibility that any extra amount of monetary value from coins used and any extra amount of credit deducted from the card is wasted when the user moves the vehicle from the parking space before purchased time for the parking meter expires. Despite several advantages presented by an available computer system in the parking meter presented by Bernier, said parking meter is limited to being operated by coins. On the other hand, limiting parking meter functionality to cards without using monetary coins, as with Chan's design, is not a wise decision since many users, such as tourists, foreigners and visitors from other cities, do not necessarily own parking meter cards and many domestic users may not be carrying parking meter cards constantly.
Another issue that has been of concern for a long time has been monitoring said parking meters. To avoid coins and tokens getting stuck in and filling up parking meters, users failing to provide sufficient money, coin-operated meters being subject to vandalism, and parking meters failing to function properly, there is a constant need for a supervisor to check hundreds of parking meters on a regular basis in different streets constantly and simultaneously. Even electronic and computerized parking meters which simplify payment by user, tend to struggle with some aspects of monitoring said parking meters. For example, as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,379,334 by Feagins, Jr. et al., in electronic parking meters for parking lots, periodic checks must be made to assure that customers in fact are paying for parking. Application of said electronic parking meters requires a supervisor filling out a check sheet as said supervisor inventories a parking lot and then checking the check sheet against the money, coins as well as dollar bills, deposited in each electronic parking meter and against the credit applied from a credit card for each parking meter. Considering millions of parking meters that are used on a daily basis, a large amount of manpower would be wasted for monitoring parking meters.
Many solutions have been suggested to alleviate task of parking meter supervisors and increase efficiency of parking meter supervision. Computer control in parking meters has increased efficiency and decreased manpower required for operation of parking meters. The computer-controlled parking meter presented by Bernier, even though being only coin-operated, is capable of handling up to ten parking places simultaneously, thus speeding up the task of the parking meter supervisor. Using cards, as shown by Chan, eliminates meter emptying and simplifies accounting to a large extent. Providing a highly visible viewer display for an electronic parking meter, as presented by Speas in U.S. Pat. No. 5,088,073, increases discernability of time displays by parking meter supervisors and law enforcement personnel monitoring electronic parking meters, thus increasing efficiency of parking meter supervision. Computerized parking meters, as provided in U.S. Pat. No. 5,029,094 by Wong, diminish human-made errors in regards to occupancy rate of parking of parking meters, turn over rate of parking of parking meters and registration of total fees of parking meters. However, Wong presents a computerized parking meter system that is limited to operation by coins and is not as efficient as computer-controlled parking meters that use parking cards and that are capable of issuing receipts and calculating remaining balance on parking cards.
Although prior art acknowledges a variety of solutions for parking meter problems, it is believed that existing parking meters and computerized parking systems thereof have not been previously designed and used as efficiently as possible. While existing parking meters have been useful for their intended purposes, with growing populations and growing use of vehicles, said existing parking meters may fail to satisfy parking needs of largely populated cities. The present invention relates to improvements in parking meters and parking systems thereof and mitigates above mentioned drawbacks.